Seeking out great places to photograph in Yorkshire

Twistleton Scar End

Twistleton Scar End is a limestone pavement above Ingleton in the Yorkshire Dales. A number of windswept trees dot the landscape, making for good photo opportunities. The best times to visit are around sunrise or sunset. Alternatively you could visit on a windy day with low level clouds to get some dramatic long exposure photos.

I visited on a bright sunny day in December at sunset, hoping for some dramatic skies. The sunset was not the best in the world, but the landscape more than made up for that. As I arrived reasonably late in the day, I stuck to the easy to access trees near the end of the scar. These are the most photographed from what I can tell online, but it’s easy to see why.

The walk up to the limestone pavement from the parking place takes about half an hour. If visiting at sunset, I’d recommend taking a good torch if, like me, you hang around after the sun goes down. I needed it to find my way back to the car! The scar itself is quite large, so plenty to explore if you’re looking for some of the less photographed areas.

For some interesting landscape photos, Twistleton Scar End is a good location. Here are a few photos I took on my visit:

Practicalities

Approximate post code (for sat nav)

LA6 3PL. This postcode will get you on the right road (Thornton Lane). If travelling up from the village of Thornton in Lonsdale, it is a further 2-3 minutes drive up the road to the parking place.

Parking

There is limited parking at the side of Thornton Road. This is the location (54.178833, -2.473116):

You can park on the grass verge here.

Directions

From the parking place, head down this track:

After about 15 minutes, on your left you will see a marker and a well-defined path doubling back up the scar. This is what you are looking for (viewed looking back along the path you’ve just walked up):The path is then very easy to follow up the hill. Here you can see the trail leading from the parking place from half way up the hill:At the top you will see two of the windswept trees and the start of the limestone pavement.

This is the location of the limestone pavement at Twistleton Scar End where these photos were taken: